Links for your post-Independence Day funk:
* Dan Walters wonders what is going to happen with the Water Bond now that it looks pretty certain that it will be delayed.
* Jeff Adachi and Matt Gonzales are picking a fight with San Francisco’s labor establishment with their pension reform plan that seems vaguely reminiscent of the Governor’s attempts to do the same thing.
* “Tracking” of candidates is nearly ubiquitous these days. Whitman constantly has somebody stalking Jerry Brown. The open question is whether this really changes anything.
* Speaking of Jerry Brown, the LA Times has a story questioning whether he’s being too cheap.
The question you pose came up in my talk with Chang, “does tracking change how candidates act?”
At least with Meg and Jerry, I say no.
Meg is a marketing person; poll-tested, focus group-driven and completely scripted in what she says and does — right down to the creepy way she gives “warm” and “comforting” looks with everything she says.
Jerry has always been known for candor, openness and/or saying whatever pops into his head.
The ubiquitous trackers don’t seem to be changing either of them…
…which begs the question how much it will help/hurt ’em!
The new anti-worker, deflationary move by Adachi and Gonzales is profoundly depressing.
All progressives need to unite against two things:
1. Blaming workers – any workers – for the economic crisis
2. Austerity policies, which do nothing but worsen the economic downturn and threaten an outright depression
SF politics is a strange and odd place, yes, but there should be no room for Adachi or Gonzales in the progressive movement if they persist in embracing this right-wing attack.
For decades people ignored state workers, except to sneer that they spent all day leaning on their shovels (or desks). Most people who work for government settled for security versus high wages, decent pensions rather than money now. Now that most workers in the private sector have had their lunches eaten by the bosses outsourcing, cutting wages, cutting hours, cutting benefits — suddenly they’re noticing that the government workers seem to have a pretty sweet deal. And their response to this discovery? They want to drag what used to be the middle-of-the-pack government workers down to their own new level in the ditch. Pretty pathetic.
Hey, California! How about getting together and demanding working conditions at least as good as government workers are getting? How about voting for people and initiatives that will help make that happen? Instead of beggaring your neighbor, how about helping each other out of this ditch?